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I need to make a temporary sign for an event that has sort of a rustic Indiana Jones sort of look. If I sandblast styrofoam will the stencil stick? Can I sandblast through the coating on Gatorfoam without cutting all the way through the board? I don't think I want to spend the time to hand carve. The size is 18"x72". Any ideas?
[This message has been edited by Chuck Peterson (edited January 21, 2000).]
Posts: 1050 | From: San Diego, CA USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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John51
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posted
Chuck,,,,, try experimenting with regular old polystyrene, the foam like ice coolers are made of...... make your copy and border out of vinyl and spray Krylon paint on it. The foam will disolve around the vinyl and you can get some really neat affects. Then come back and paint with latex. This foam is sold in builders supply / hardware stores as 3/4" white insulation. Experiments always turn up some pretty nifty stuff !!!!
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Cool idea John, about "melting" styrene with spray paint. Have you ever seen what lacquer thinner does to a styrofoam cup? Nuclear meltdown! With a little experimenting you could probably get fairly predictable results. Since this stuff melts with heat too, a hot stylus like a soldering iron or even a propane torch could be another way to stress the product.
Adding a texture (like sand) to the latex paint coating could give it a stucco or stone effect.
Builders supplies also have thicker "R Board" rigid insulation which is pink and has a much finer cell structure. I have seen it as much as 6" thich in 2'x8' sheets. It can also be eroded with a cheap gravity feed sandblaster. Sounds like a fun project, enjoy!
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Chuck, go to a couple of surf shops near you I bet you'll see some logos made using this technique. You can also just mask out the area for your logo or design with plain old masking tape and cut with x-acto.I've been wanting to glass a sign like this with epoxy resin to see if I can make them more permanent. Just like an epoxy surfboard,why don't you glass this one and let us know if it worked!!!!
------------------ Matthew Broadus Matthew Broadus Advertising Jacksonville, Fl.
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A friend of mine used to make these types of signs all the time. He used some intermediate vinyl as a mask on inch or more thick styrofoam. Then he cut out whatever the lettering or logo was, and sprayed lacquer thinner from a spray bottle on it. Use a fine mist setting and do a bit at a time until the desired depth is reached. Then paint with latex paint. And voila! Instant cheapo sandblasting! Good luck!
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Caution.Anyone doing this process using heat to burn foam be warned the fumes are VERY toxic,see DEADLY!!!Respiration and a hi speed fan blowing the fumes away are a must. As far as fiberglassing over syrofoam,it melts the foam.There are some expensive barrier coats that can be used but you can get away with tin foil or a pretested plastic(or vinyl,like Gerbermask) that will hold up to resin.BTW resin alone is no good.It will crack.Resin is almost worthless without fiberglass matt or cloth.Fiberglass will however go over urethane foam but now we are getting back into the big bucks.
------------------ Brett Baker candykolor@aol.com "free your mind,the rest will follow"
Posts: 73 | From: Scotia NY USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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posted
Brett, you are right about regular resin melting foam, however I'm talking about epoxy, just like west systems, it doesn't use a catalyst that gets hot,we've made epoxy surfboards from basically the same white cooler foam.Maybe you could put some strands of fiberglass cloth into the epoxy mix.You would almost be making a mold. Just brainstorming the possibilities, if it could be made hard, it sure would be cheap and easy to make sign that would look great.
------------------ Matthew Broadus Matthew Broadus Advertising Jacksonville, Fl.
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